The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-08-18
SECTARIANISM.
Or. TALMAGE'S SERMON AT THE
tiAMPTONS.

tiAMPTONS.
Eigotry and Sectnrianisn Disgust Peo-
pie With the Christian Religion and
Hinder the Triumph of the Gospel. |
Intolerance Never Put Anything Down. |
THE IIAMPTONS, Aug. 14.-Today the !
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage's sermon is
Concerning the Bigots, and the text,
Then said they unto him, Say now
Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth, for
he could not frame to pronounce it
right. Then they took him, and slew
hin at the passages of jordan. Judges
xii, 6.
Do you notice the difference of pro-
nunciation between shibboleth and sibbo-
lcth? A very small and unimportant
difference, you say. And yet that diff
ference was the difference between life
and death for a great many people. The
Lords people, Gilead and Ephraim, got
into a great fight and Ephraim was
worsted, and on the retreat came to the
fords of the river Jordan to cross. Order
was given that all Ephraimites COM
ing there be slain. But how could
81 be found out who were
1phraimites! They were detected by
their pronunciation. Shibboleth was a
word that stood for river. The Ephraim-
ties had brogue of their own, and when
they tried to say shibboleth always left
out the sound of the ''h. q" When it was
asked that they say Shibboleth they said
Tibboleth, and were slain. ''Then said
they unto him, Say now shibboleth: and
he said Sibboleth, for he could not frame
60 pronounce it right. Then they took
Linn and slew him at the passages of
Jordan" A very small difference, you
bay, between Gilead and Ephraim, and
yet how much intolerance about that
small difference! The Lords tribes in
our time-by which I mean the different
denominations of Christians-sometimeS
magnify very small difference, and the
only difference between scores of denom-
nations today is the difference between
ehibboleth and sibboleth.
The church of God is divided into
great number of denominations. Time
would fail me to tell of the Calvinists,
ind the Arminiaps, and the Sabbatarians,
oud the Baxterians, and the Dunkers,
and the Shakers, and the Quakers, and
the Me$dodists, and the Baptists, and the
Episcopali>ns, and the Lutherans, ana
the ConpregatiOnalists, and the Presby
terians, and the Spiritualists, and score
OF other denominations of retiSionists,
some of them founded by very good men,
some of them founded by very eSotlstlc
men and some of them founded by very
lad men. But as l demand for myself
liberty of conscience, l must give that
game liberty to every other man, remem-
bering that he no more differs from me
than l differ from him. | advocate the
largest liberty in all religious belief and
form of worship. In art, in politics, III
morals and in religion let there be no gag
law, no moving of the previous question,
Sgo persecution, no intolerance.
You know that the air and the water
keep pure by constant circulation, and |
think there is tendency in religious dis
scus,siou to purificatiop and moral health.
Between the Fourth and the Sixteenth
centuries the church proposed to make
Seop : think Alright by prohibiting discus
Rioil and by strong censorship of the press,
and by rack and gibbet and hot lead down
the throat tried to make people orthodox
but it was discovered that you cannot
change a mans belief by twisting off his
head aIi, ti.9t you cannot make man
see things differently by putting an awl
through his eyes. There is something in
a mans conscience which will hurl Off
the mountain that you threw upon it,
and, unsinged of the fire, out of the fame
will make red wings, on which ele martyr
will mount to glory.
In that time of which / speak, between
the Fourth and Sixteenth centuries, peO-
ple went from the house of God into the
anost appalling iniquity, and right along
F7v consecrated affairs there were tides of
drunkenness and hceniousness such as
the world never heard OF, and the very
sewers of perdition broke loose and flooded
the church. After q while the printing
Dress was fr2ed and it broke the shackles
of the human mind. Then there came a
large number of bad books, but where
there was one man hostile to the Christian
religion there were twenty men ready to
advocate it; so | have not any nervousness
in regard 10 this battle going on between
truth and error
The truth will conquer just as certainly
as that God is stronger than the devil.
Let error run if you only LEI truth run
along with it. Urged on by skeptic g
shout and transcendentalist' spur, let ii
run. Gods angels of wrath are in hot
pursuit. and quicker than eagles beak
clutches cut a hawks heart Gods ven
geance will tear it to pieces.
/ propose this morning to speak to you
of sectarianism--its origin. its evils, and
its cures. There are those who would
make us think that this monster with
horns and hoofs, is religion. L shall
(i!ase it to its hiding place, and drag il
4 ~. Nr Il 1nrlyta and rIT
ofT tt- hide. But l want to make a dis
tiuctiol; between bigotry and the lawful
fondness for peculiar religious beliefs ano
forms Of worship. have no admiration
for a nothingarian.
In a world of such tremendous viclsSl
tude and temptation, and with soul that
must after while stand before throne
OF insuiferabie brightness, in day when
ahe rocking of the mountains and the
Aamiug of the heavens and the upheaya
Of the sea shall be among the least OF the
Cyaitements. to give account for every
thought, word, action. preference, anc
dilike-that man is mad who has M
rsiicious preference. But our early edu
cation. our physical temperament, ou
mental constitution. will very much de
eide our form of worship.
A stvie of psalmody that may pleas
me may displease you. Some would hk
10 have n minister in gown and band
and snrplice, and others prefer to have
minister in plain citizens apparel. Som
.,re most impressed when little child
presented at the altar and sprinkled O
the waters of holy benedlctlon, IN tn
name of the Father, and of the Son, an
of the Holy Ghost" and others are NOR
impressed when the penitent comes u
out of the river, his garments drippin
with the waters of a baptism which sig
nifies the washing away Of sin. LIZ
either have his own way. One ma